


CVLT

by Lesbianistic



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Gen, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-08
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-07-13 02:26:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7134824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lesbianistic/pseuds/Lesbianistic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>POSSESSION- (def.) the state of being controlled by a demon or spirit.</p><p>CULT- (def.) a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object.</p><p>SATANISM- (def.) the worship of Satan, typically involving a travesty of Christian symbols and practices, such as placing a cross upside down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	CVLT

"Papers!" A shrill voice was shouting from the street corner. "Papers! Ten cents!"  
The scrawny boy calling out to the moving crowd held up a stack of a dozen or so folded newspapers in the crooks of his veiny little arms. Some glanced at him, some threw a dime in the tin can at his feet and pulled a paper off the top. After one was taken, one was immediately replaced by his partner standing at his side.  
"Papers! Ten cents, folks!" Both boys continued yelling.  
The morning was loud with the sounds of hustling workers and merchants. Horses clomped down the stone streets, carrying yelling men shouting out their services.  
"Radishes! Pig's feet! All for sale!"  
Strange offers rang from every corner. Often, the small boys found it hard to be heard over the continuous yelling and clambering of the morning rush. Especially when they were selling in the middle of December, when children were running to the stores for their parents to collect things for family dinners and get together's.  
"What do you think it's like, Xavier?" The boy not holding the stack asked his friend. "To have big family dinners?"  
"I don't know, Johnathon." He shrugged.  
"It's only my mother, my father, and me." Johnathon said. He often talked about his parents and how they bought him special candies sometimes. It annoyed Xavier to the brink of irritation sometimes.  
"I know. So you've said." Xavier set down the papers as he watched the last of the crowd dissolve into shops or horse carriages. He wrapped his gloved hands around the middle of his arms and held himself so tight that his teeth began to ache from clenching his jaw.  
"Where are you going for the holidays?" Johnathon asked, wiping snowflakes from the ridge of his cap.  
"I'm getting a carriage to California to visit my aunt. I'm leaving next week." Xavier sat on his papers and tucked his bare head between his knees, trying to warm his ears enough to make them stop hurting. Johnathon took a seat on the icy sidewalk and continued to talk.  
"I've always wanted to go to California you know? It would be such a fun adventure! Mother says it's warm over there. She says-"  
"Johnathon!" Xavier shouted. "I don't want-"  
"Quite the chatterbox you are." A feminine voice said. Xavier rose his head to see a tall figure standing before him on the curb.  
She wore a beautiful black dress, even in this weather. She held a black parasol above her head, in a gloved hand, guarding her from the large flecks of ice. Her auburn hair was tied back into somewhat of a nest under a black veil that covered her face.  
If Johnathon weren't next to him, Xavier would've been afraid.  
"Paper ma'am?" The boy asked the stranger.  
"No." She waved it away with her free hand. "No, thank you, son." She continued staring down at the other boy, his ripped shoes nearly scraping against her gown.  
"Xavier." The woman said in a clear voice. He stood up straight and folded his hands behind his back.  
"Where are you sleeping tonight?"  
She asked him, setting her hand on his shoulder.  
"The food bank, ma'am." He answered.  
"Inside the building or on the curb outside of it?" She asked in a smart tone. Xavier only took a step away from her.  
"Johnathon, do you think if I paid you a dollar, you could finish selling these papers?" She asked the younger boy, who,of course, jumped at the opportunity.  
The woman slipped her fingers into Xavier's back belt loop and ushered him towards the other side of the street. Xavier did not resist her but felt absolutely no comfort with the mysterious woman. She stood with him at her side, waiting on the next carriage to come by. Xavier took it as her wanting him to escort her. Plenty of women had made Xavier escort them to carriages before; he just hoped this one was going to pay.  
"Xavier." She turned to him. The boy was tall enough to reach almost to her shoulder. He found it hard to speak to her when her eyes were lost in the shadow of her veil.  
"Yes, ma'am?"  
"I've been watching you. Watching you sell those papers and then sleep behind the town hall every night. In that wooden utility shed. I'm correct aren't I?"  
Xavier found it hard not to squint his eyes at her through the flurries of snowflakes.  
"Yes." He answered.  
"You don't have an aunt in California, do you, boy?" She continued.  
"No, ma'am."  
"Good. You're coming home with me."  
She stated as a carriage halted to allow them inside.


End file.
